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Sunday, 1 January 2012

Science, too, evolved.

From an article on LiveScience today:
New Hampshire House Bill 1148 would "require evolution to be taught in the public schools of this state as a theory, including the theorists' political and ideological viewpoints and their position on the concept of atheism." The second proposal in the New Hampshire House, HB 1457, does not mention evolution specifically but would "require science teachers to instruct pupils that proper scientific inquire [sic] results from not committing to any one theory or hypothesis, no matter how firmly it appears to be established, and that scientific and technological innovations based on new evidence can challenge accepted scientific theories or modes."

The bills, introduced by Jerry Bergevin, a Republican member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives, require evolution to be taught as a philosophy in schools and teachers to pay some attention to the "fact" that science often contradicts itself as a result of new evidence being found everyday. Perhaps someone should inform Mr. Bergevin that science has never contradicted itself except in the case of explicitly stated paradoxes. In every other case, if two paradigms seem to contradict each other, the one less compatible with the more carefully-made observations is discarded and is no longer considered a part of science. And if he thinks that's the reason science cannot be trusted, I'm very scared to consider Mr. Bergevin's opinion of a democracy.

And what's with Republicans and Darwinian theories, anyway?

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